§ MR. H. B. SAMUELSONsaid, he wished to ask the President of the Poor Law Board, Whether his attention has been called to a Letter signed J. A. Busfield, which appeared in the "Times" 892 newspaper of 22nd July, to the effect that an order had been made by the Guardians of the Keighley Union, that neither food nor the opportunity of obtaining food by work shall be provided for the inmates of the casual ward in that Union; and, whether that statement is true; whether the same practice prevails in other Unions; and, if so, whether the practice does not require immediate prohibition?
§ MR. GOSCHENsaid, in reply, that the statement in Mr. Busfield's letter was not perfectly accurate, and the explanation he had received from the guardians did not fully agree with it. The real order was as follows:—
The Committee leave it optional for vagrants to leave the workhouse in a morning without breakfast, or to stay until noon and pick oakum in return for their breakfast.However, for six months, owing to the reluctance of the vagrants to perform the task of work, there had occurred no case of vagrants performing the work and receiving breakfast, and that circumstance had given rise to the impression that breakfast was under no circumstances supplied. The general practice in workhouses was to enforce work, and then give breakfast, and he thought that the custom at Keighley Union of making both the work and the breakfast optional was not one to be commended, though it was not so barbarous as might have been inferred from the statement which had been published.